The judge found the State Election Board lacked authority to implement the rules.
A Georgia judge ruled Wednesday that the State Election Board had no authority to implement seven new rules impacting certification, absentee ballots, and vote counting.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox voided the seven challenged rules, finding that they violated state law, the Georgia Constitution, and the U.S. Constitution.
“The Court here declares that these rules are illegal, unconstitutional, and void,” Cox wrote in his ruling.
Three of the seven rules received considerable attention—one requiring that the number of ballots be hand-counted after the close of polls and two regarding the certification of election results. Another judge had temporarily halted the hand-count rule the day before.
The State Election Board, which has a Republican majority, had passed several rules in recent months, mostly related to processes that occur after ballots are cast.
Cox ruled that the Georgia General Assembly did not provide sufficient guidelines for the State Election Board’s rulemaking process and that the board was not authorized to regulate federal elections.
The judge also noted that the rules, which were issued one month before early voting began on Oct. 15, were contrary to provisions of Georgia’s Election Code.Two Georgia Republicans and the nonprofit Eternal Vigilance Action challenged the rules on absentee voting and election certification in September.
Their initial lawsuit targeted four rules and was later amended to include three additional rules.
One of the contested rules, the “Reasonable Inquiry Rule,” would have required local election officials to verify the accuracy of election results before certifying them. Another, the “Examination Rule,” would have allowed individual county election board members to review all election-related documents before certifying results.
The plaintiffs also challenged the “Drop Box Rule,” which would have required voters to provide a signature and photo ID when using a drop box for absentee ballots. Additionally, the “Surveillance Rule” would have required video surveillance at all drop boxes and invalidate any ballots dropped in boxes that are not under surveillance.
On Sept. 25, the plaintiffs expanded their complaint to include additional rules.
These new challenges targeted the “Poll Watcher Rule,” which would have expanded the areas where poll watchers can be stationed, and the “Daily Reporting Rule,” which sought to impose extra requirements for absentee ballot reporting by county officials.
The plaintiffs also challenged the “Hand Count Rule,” which would have mandated that ballots be hand-counted on Election Day.
Georgia voters use touchscreen machines to make their selections, which then print a paper ballot displaying a readable list of the voter’s choices along with a QR code. This paper ballot is fed into a scanner that records the votes. In the event of a hand count, it would involve counting the paper ballots, not the electronic votes.
Supporters argued the hand count would only take a few extra minutes, not hours, and scanner memory cards with vote totals could be sent to county tabulation centers during the count, preventing delays in reporting results.
The plaintiffs argued that these new rules, which would be implemented just before the 2024 election, violated the Georgia Constitution and could disrupt the voting process. They asked the court to block the rules from being enforced.
The judge’s ruling was issued just weeks ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.